INTRODUCTION: My mother was mostly blind during the final years of her life. A passionate reader, a woman who loved to sew and mend and cook and clean, her infirmity made the favored activities of her life nearly impossible. She did learn to crochet by touch, and made over one hundred Afghans for her grand- and great-grandchildren in those final years, but they were years lived in temporal darkness. But through it all she glowed! There was a source of light in her, a shining certainty, that enabled her to see more clearly than any of those whose love and compassion brought them to her side to read to her and to visit with her and to reminisce with her. The real light of the world, rather than being dimmed by her handicap, increased its brightness and radiance as the weeks and months passed by, until it seemed there was no darkness in her at all. More than any person I have ever known, she knew what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the light of the world.”

13 Weeks of FHE

If partaking of the sacrament doesn’t culminate in feelings of joy, try taking Elder Kearon’s advice.

When you read between the lines of the stories you know well, new thoughts and bits of knowledge may shine through.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has withdrawn its proposal to build a new meetinghouse near its temple on the West End of Billings.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has filed preliminary plans with Henrico County, Virginia, for construction of a new temple.

As we look forward to a new year and a fresh start, there's still time to reminisce about some of the stories and memories that have touched our lives and helped us become better people this past year. Here are some of our favorite Mormon moments from 2016 that we hope will touch your heart once again and inspire you to remember the things that matter most and are worth remembering as you make your New Year's resolutions for 2017.

To truly understand Tara and Jared Madsen’s story, you have to start in the present. Skip past the first five years of their marriage, when she felt lonely, confused, and disconnected from her husband. Get past the excruciating discovery of Jared’s pornography addiction and the infidelity to which it led. Skim the subsequent five years of recovery work they slogged through to get to this place. Because this place is a really good place.

For several years now, we have collected hundreds of personal stories from young adults in the Church telling us how they were taught about sexuality. We are particularly intrigued by how frequently we are told by young people that their parents and Church leaders used object lessons to teach them about the law of chastity. Much can be learned from understanding the metaphors and messages that are intentionally—and unintentionally—expressed in these types of lessons.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: The book of Ether is a 15-chapter abridgment of the 24 plates found by the people of Limhi in the days of King Mosiah. It gives an outline history of a people who were led to this continent from the Tower of Babel and became a great nation. These people, called Jaredites, had a national history of possibly sixteen centuries or more. The Tower of Babel record is the factual basis of the book of Ether. The Lord did not confound the Jaredite language, but guided his people and made of them a great nation. Ether, the last great prophet and historian of this people, gives his own genealogy, covering twenty-nine generations or more back to Jared, who lived at the time of the Tower of Babel episode (FARMS, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol.4, Number 2, p.123).